9 Benefits of Yoga During Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a beautiful experience!  And, even if you appreciate pregnancy as I do, you may know that pregnancy has an unpleasant side.  This unpleasant side of pregnancy can seem more stressful when you have other obligations like teaching homeschool, organizing your home, financially contributing to your household, etc.  Fortunately, the benefits of prenatal yoga can help ease your stress!  And, prenatal yoga can help relieve many aches, pains, discomforts of pregnancy, and more.  Below are nine benefits of yoga during pregnancy:

9. Helps Relieve Back Pain

Absolutely! One benefit of Prenatal Yoga is that it can certainly improve back pain. Sciatic pain during pregnancy may be caused by lumbar spine problems, like a herniated or bulging disc.  Symptoms affect 50 to 80 percent of pregnant women.  Back pain during pregnancy is responsible for numerous irritable pregnant women. The degree of back pain during pregnancy typically stops after you recover from birth.  However, the pain can range from nagging to tremendously intense.  Pregnancy back pain can be as frustrating as a three-year-old refusing to be potty-trained, but that is a post for another day.  Again, one benefit of Prenatal Yoga is that it can ease or eliminate low back pain during pregnancy. 

8. Prepares You for Childbirth

Yes, prenatal yoga can prepare you for childbirth!  Prenatal yoga is considered a safe and effective form of exercise during pregnancy.  And, yoga is not as easy as it looks, so be prepared for a good workout.  Yoga poses during pregnancy will help you practice breathing and focusing. The contractions you experience during labor can be intense, especially as labor progress and contractions become more intense. Doing prenatal yoga regularly helps train you to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, which will help you tremendously to have a peaceful birth.

I often practiced prenatal yoga during my various pregnancies to help prepare me for my births.  Truth, I would actually visualize the type of birth I desired while holding challenging yoga poses.  So, let’s say I was to hold a yoga pose for 20 seconds, then I would simultaneously visualize peacefully breathing and focusing through a 20-second contraction.  And, before you think this is woo-woo “crunchy-mama” stuff, just know that I gave birth to ALL six of our children without medication.  I loved my natural childbirth!  If you are interested in having a peaceful cesarean birth or a beautiful natural birth with or without medication, then

If you would like to try a Prenatal Yoga Course online at your convenience, then try this DEAL on  Yogadownloads.com.  

This site is a collective of students and teachers who are passionate about Yoga.  It is their mission “to make the benefits of yoga accessible and affordable for everyone, everywhere – and support teachers in finding new ways to succeed on their path.” They really know how important it is to practice yoga consistently, and they are opened 24 hours a day!  Yogadowload.com can be your personal yoga studio during pregnancy and beyond.   

7.  Improves Sleep

Doing deep breathing during Prenatal Yoga causes your body to go into a parasympathetic mode. The parasympathetic system gets credit for one’s ability to relax.  This system lowers the heart rate and relaxes sphincter muscles in the gastrointestinal tract; thus, causing your sleep to noticeably improve. And, when you sleep with Pregnancy Pillow, then night-night, mama.  Sweet dreams!    

6. Allows You to De-Stress and Connect with Your Baby

It is SO easy as a busy mom to go about business as usual with cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, etc. Prenatal Yoga allows you to quiet your mind, center your soul, and connect with your growing baby in your womb.  I always enjoyed taking a moment to meditate after my prenatal yoga practice.  However, finding a comfortable meditation position became difficult the further along I was in my pregnancies. 

5. Increases Your Strength and Muscle Endurance for Birth and a Postpartum Recovery

Prenatal Yoga strengthens your core, hips, back, arms and ankles.  You may want to try Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga that can be safely modified for pregnancy throughout each trimester.  In these classes on Yogadownload.com, Instructor Dave is joined by his wife, Anne-Lisa.  She is pregnant with their second child.  Anna-Lisa models the practice with strength and beauty to Dave’s detailed and uplifting teaching. The extra weight you may gain during pregnancy is tough on your body to carry without strong muscles.  Birth and postpartum recovery tend to be more difficult and longer when you have weak muscles of low-endurance. So, you make be asking, “how often should I do prenatal yoga”?

4. Helps You Find Mental Clarity and Balance Within

You may feel like you have a pregnancy brain throughout your pregnancy.  Even though you may be forgetful, pregnancy is not a neurological condition.  But, rather, your mind may tend to be on issues concerning your baby when you are pregnant.  For instance, you may be preoccupied with deciding the color of the nursery or how you can afford to be a stay-at-home mom.  With the myriad of things moms and couples have to consider during pregnancy, there should be no wonder why the term, pregnancy brain was created.  Prenatal yoga can be a much need respite to clear your mind and balance your soul.     

3. Allows You to Stay Active

It is recommended that pregnant women exercise during pregnancy, especially if you have exercised prior to being pregnant.  However, there are still many myths surrounding pregnancy and exercise.  Prenatal Yoga is designed specifically to be safe for pregnant women.  A qualified Yoga Instructor knows how to modify various yoga poses for you to perform them safely.  Be sure to ask questions and keep your instructor and health care provider well-informed of how your prenatal yoga practice is affecting you.  

2. Provides a Sense of Belonging with Like-Minded Mamas

It is easy to unintentionally lose connection with friends while trying to manage the hustle and bustle of motherhood.  Yet, it is comforting to surround yourself with like-minded moms who can relate to how you feel and support you during this special time.   

1. Let’s You Create a Healthy “Mama-Time” Habit

As a wife and mother of six, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of creating a habit of spending a certain amount of time each day to nurture and be kind to yourself.  Prenatal Yoga Classes online at Yogadowload.com is a great place to start.  Perhaps, you want to begin your day with prayer, meditation, and short prenatal yoga practice. This can take 15 minutes total (5 minutes to pray and meditate and 10 minutes to do a short prenatal yoga practice).  If you want more time, then perhaps you can wake up earlier to extend your mama-time while the kids are still sleeping.  Or, you may want to have your mama-time after dropping your children off at school in the morning and your little one is napping. 

Here is My FREE Tip: Be Flexible.  Even though you may love a set schedule, some days your mama-time may have to be rearranged.  So, you may be able to have 15 minutes of mama-time first thing in the morning on Monday. However, on Tuesday, you may have 30-minutes of mama-time later in the day or evening when your hubby or nanny can watch your children. 

I would love to know how you spend your mama-time.  How do you limit distractions during mama-time?  Leave a comment.  Lastly, I created a quick checklist of Prenatal Yoga poses that are safe to do for every trimester.

Simply,  sign up for the Happily Pregnant Fit Mama Club to get your FREE checklist! 

Thanks for reading!  Remember, sharing is caring. Kindly share this post if you feel other moms may be helped by reading it. 

Namaste’~